043 - Michael Burks – Iron Man Is One of this Years Best Blues/Rock CDs [36:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview with Michael Burks about his new CD Iron Man. Listen to the interview of Michael Burks
and hear Michael Burks songs from Iron Man in this podcast .
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Michael said he remembers every Sunday night Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) would come over to his father’s house. In the basement they would be jamming with Michael’s dad playing bass guitar. Michael would be right in the middle of it all, watching what was going on. He also remembers playing in a juke joint when he was only six years old. As Michael was growing up he got to back up many blues artists when they would come through town. People like O.V. Wrigte, Little Milton, Raful Thomas, Freddie King and T. Bone Walker. While growing up Michael listened to Grand Funk Railroad, Three Dog Night, Rare Earth, Bar-Kays, Santana and ZZ Top. His dad made sure Michael learned how to play all kinds of music on the guitar so he would be able to get a job playing whatever was available. This probably led to Michael’s love of more than just blues or rock. He loves listening to funk, jazz, and country also. After hearing Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys, he was in his bedroom for hours and hours trying to learn the record. As you can imagine Michael has been working in many bands since those days. Eight years ago Michael’s big break came with being signed to Alligator Records. The first CD issued was Make It Rain followed in 2003 by I Smell Smoke. A very appropriate title not only for the music on any of his CD’s but also for his concerts. With titles like Make It Rain and I Smell Smoke I thought the new one would be called Backdraft or something to that affect. I was wrong though, the new CD is titled Iron Man, Michael’s nickname.
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Iron Man is a versatile blues CD with slow, fast and hard rockin’ blues. The first song “Love Disease” starts with one drum beat, two chords, then Michael’s guitar starts to scream. From the very beginning the Iron Man is giving you a powerful assault. This was written before he was with Alligator Records. The song got rewritten for Make It Rain and I Smell Smoke but was never used. This time the rewrite must have been just what they wanted. “Love Disease” is definitely what I want, powerful playing by the band with lots of lead guitar work. The next song is about a relationship starting to break up. You get that “Strange Feeling” something is going on behind your back. Michael said the song was really just an excuse to play slide guitar. “Empty Promises” was one of the last songs written for this CD. While doing a sound check he was playing around with some chords then the words came to him. This is probably the most beautiful song on Iron Man. Between Michael’s slow lovely chord changes and Wayne Sharp’s nice organ accompaniment, the surprise comes with a strong stirring guitar solo. The solo is faster with more of a raw sound that makes a very nice contrast with the beautiful chords in the rest of the song. “Salty Tears”, “No More Crying”, and “Ashes in My Ashtray” are all upbeat songs with the later two being more blues. “Don’t Waste My Time” is about a friend of Michael’s who was dating a girl that he was serious about but the girl was not serious about this guy. She was just wasting his time. That’s something Michael Burks doesn’t do, waste your time. Like Albert King once told Michael, when you get up to play, play, and don’t go messing around. Sounds like Michael took Albert’s advice, with three CDs out he’s not wasted our time yet. This is a man that is well on his way to being one of the next great blues legends. “Quiet Little Town” is about his hometown that is a nice little place where everyone is friendly and knows his face. One little problem though, they know too much about what everyone else is up to, kind of like a Peyton Place. This is a great rocker that all the rock stations should be playing (please call yours). “Hard Come, Easy Go” is one song that is getting some well-deserved radio play. Tinsley Ellis who wrote this song for Michael’s CD did a really nice job. Our guitar solo of the week comes from this song although there were many great solos in just about every song this has been getting airplay so I went with this. “Icepick Through My Heart” is a good example of a song that has a lot of great guitar soloing in it. Michael said it’s kind of based on an Albert King song “As the Years Go Passing By”. When I listened to Albert’s song I could see very little if any similarity between the two. Albert’s is much slower and softer with other instruments kind of competing with Albert’s playing. I really love Albert King and this song of his but “Icepick Through My Heart” is much better. Michael really gives the guitar a work out on this song. It’s also the longest song on the CD, just under seven minutes. The next song is from the old Paul Rogers band Free. The song is “Fire and Water”. Michael’s version is much more powerful than Free’s. The last song “Changed Man” is a real rocker. If you like blues/blues rock with a lot of guitar playing this is the CD for you. I’ve talked to several people that seem to agree that if Michael keeps making CD’s like the last three he is well on his way to being one of the leading blues artists of the future. Even though Iron Man is the new CD Michael and Alligator Records is pushing right now Make It Rain and I Smell Smoke are both just as good. I have all three CD’s and there is not a bad song on any of the CDs.
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A few weeks ago I saw Michael Burks in St. Louis at BB’s Jazz, Blues, and Soups Not only was the ticket about the price of a beer at The Rolling Stones concert, I did not need binoculars or even my glasses to see the Iron Man on stage. Michael Burks and his band put on the best show I’ve seen since Buddy Guy two years ago. They played a two-hour set of powerful blistering blues rock. During his break he stood on stage autograghing CDs and talking to fans. Then he played two more hours of great blues rock including the very best version of “Hey Joe” I have ever heard. You have to see Michael Burks live. This is a must see band especially now while he is still playing smaller places. Some day you will have to pay a lot of money and need my binoculars.
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The songs played in the podcast:
Love Disease
Empty Promises
Don’t Waste My Time
Quiet Little Town
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Guitar solo of the week Hard Come, Easy Go
Thanks to Tinsley Ellis and Bruce Iglauer for letting me play this song.
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The Band is:
Michael Burks – guitar & vocals
Wayne Shaarp – organ & piano
Don Garrett - bass
Chuck “Popcorn” Louder – drums
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Michael Burks Website
Michael Burks MySpace page
Go to buy Michael Burks CD from Alligator Records
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Check out other great artist on Alligator Records like Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King, Eddy Clearwater, Janiva Magness, Roomful of Blues, and many many more.
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Thanks to Bruce Iglauer for setting up this interview and Michael Burks for taking time from one of his few days off the road to talk.
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